Posting instructions:
The directory /afs/cs/project/able-6/www/aesop/html/design_docs serves as a repository for design documents and discussion relating to the latest revision of Aesop. It is intended to capture the design process, rational for design decisions, and eventually the architecture of the system. A number of the ABLE groups members have found the all text netnews posting format to be overly constraining in expressing our ideas, many of which are best expressed graphically.So, if you have a rich text document that you would like to make available for archival purposes, please create a cover page for it with the template available in the file /afs/cs/project/able/www/aesop/html/design_docs/design_doc_template.html. then store your document in the directory /afs/cs/project/able-6/www/aesop/html/design_docs and add a link to it in the /afs/cs/project/able/www/aesop/html/developer.html web page.
Formats:
The most widely accesible format from the web is, of course, html. Realizing that html is not always a convenient format, please feel free to post the documents in other formats as well. It is useful to be able to save a text or html version of the document as a lowest-common-denominator, however, so please make a version available in one of these formats as well. FrameMaker seems to be a widely available editor, so saving documents in MIF format is probably not a bad idea, though web-browsers don't support it generally (nor even know what to do with it). Postscript is probably a good option also.Comments on documents:
One of the nice features of netnews, of course, is that it allows people to respond to posts with direct comments on previously posted ideas, proposals, and other documents. In practice, however, the cmu.cs.proj.able newsgroup has been used primarily as a broadcast and archival medium. I'm open to suggestions on ways to improve this model and increase the amount of off-line communication that takes place in the group. Please drop me a message or come talk with me if you have ideas. (bmonroe@cs.cmu.edu)There is also a link off of the previous page to the newsgroup, which should remain a viable broadcast and archive medium.
Questions and comments to: bmonroe@cs.cmu.edu